SPAN 100/101 ELEMENTARY SPANISH COURSE OBJECTIVES This Spanish course pays equal attention to developing all four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing), with a special emphasis on the oral aspects of the Spanish language. By the end of the semester, you should be able to function in Spanish using the following communicative skills: LISTENING For communication to be successful, listening for information is an important aspect that needs to be developed. This is the first skill you will develop in this course. At this level, remember that you should not attempt to translate every single word you hear, but should rather try to get the general idea of what is being said. As you develop this skill, you will be able to understand more and more information. By the end of the semester, it is expected that you will be able to: identify Spanish sounds and discriminate among them identify numbers understand telephone numbers recognize different intonations (assertions vs. questions) understand information and opinions about people understand information about likes and preferences understand information about location and characteristics of places understand conversations about shopping, traveling understand radio interviews about habits, health understand descriptions and interviews about daily life and work understand information about food, recipes, restaurant understand information about travel, routes, transportation, lodging, dates and times understand directions understand instructions understand references to places, locations, distances, times, schedules, dates understand descriptions, comparisons, and opinions about places understand commands understand the routines of telephone conversations identify the topic of what you listen to understand the general idea behind short, simple texts listen for specific information SPEAKING/FUNCTIONAl KNOWLEDGE The entire semester will be centered on the concept of information-sharing, so the majority of the speaking activities will focus on content that reflects your feelings and ideas. You will be able to talk about yourself, your likes and dislikes, your opinions and your reactions, etc. You will speak individually, in pairs, and in groups, to give you the experience you need to communicate in natural settings. Speaking in Spanish will not just happen overnight; you will have to make a conscious effort to practice it. Success in speaking will also depend on your confidence and your willingness to speak and even make mistakes! You will be expected to make every possible effort to improve your speaking skills. By the end of the semester, you should be able to: express interests about Spanish give a telephone number identify Spanish speaking countries in a map spell words identify yourself or other people by your name/last name express information with different degrees of certainty request and give information and opinions about people justify decisions
express preferences, and likes and dislikes talk about locations ask for a product in the marketplace, ask about its price, and pay for it express your opinion and back up your opinion offer to do something talk about needs talk about daily habits, health related issues make recommendations and give advice give information about experiences express opinions about professions and abilities propose something; accept or decline a proposition justify your opinions talk about and request information about food, order in restaurants, buy food and drink talk about weights and measurements talk about future actions ask about and give information about prices, routes, distances, locations ask about and give information about dates and times request information and make reservations to travel talk about advantages and disadvantages make comparisons express likes, dislikes, and wishes express your opinion, agree, disagree, evaluate an idea, and back up your opinion greet and say bye introduce people offer something to somebody, and extend invitations; accept or reject invitations and offers give commands and instructions maintain phone conversations READING Reading is an interactive process between the reader - you - and the writer. The materials you will read during the semester will provide you with a great deal of information, both cultural and linguistic (vocabulary and structures of Spanish). You will learn strategies used by good readers to understand texts better. You will also be exposed to intensive reading (short texts), and extensive reading (short novels). By the end of the semester, we expect that you will be able to: identify all letters in Spanish identify numbers identify names of Spanish speaking countries understand written information about people (descriptions, relationships, etc) understand written information about location and characteristics of places understand advertisements understand shopping tickets understand turistic brochures understand main ideas in journal articles skim (quickly run your eyes over a text to get the gist of it) understand work announcements and CVs understand menus, shopping lists, recipes understand information about studying abroad, travel understand ads about travel, schedules, hotel information understand texts about cities understand texts from newspapers (articles, ads) read simplified novels in Spanish 2
WRITING Your writing will be an important form of interaction between you and your instructor. Your writing skills will be developed with the help of your instructor, who will give you feedback (both linguistic and contextual) on what you write. In your written work, you will practice your vocabulary and knowledge of Spanish, using some external aids (grammar book, textbook, personal dictionary, and bilingual dictionary) to work on the accuracy and effective structuring of your compositions. By the end of the semester, you will be able to: write all Spanish letters write numbers write basic personal information write descriptions, personal biographical information on forms, or questionnaires write about likes and preferences write descriptions about places (location) write lists (shopping, things to do, travel, party ) write descriptions about health, habits, work fill in charts and schedules with information write job announcements and CVs write recipes, texts about food write about experiences in the past and the future associate and organize ideas, and join sentences write cohesive paragraphs and short compositions using vocabulary, structures, and tenses covered during the semester phrase sentences following Spanish word order proofread your compositions with an eye to grammar and vocabulary covered in the course edit your writing for basic content, organization, cohesion, and style LINGUISTIC KNOWLEDGE To progress in your knowledge of Spanish, you will be exposed to certain grammatical and lexical aspects of the Spanish language. It is very important that you build a solid linguistic foundation in order to be able to communicate effectively in Spanish. This means you need to study and internalize the grammar and vocabulary, and then practice it both in class exercises/tasks, and at home doing your grammar and vocabulary homework. By the end of the semester, it is expected that you know the following language points: Grammar knowledge the Spanish alphabet and sounds numbers from 1 to 100; from 100 to definite article Agreement between article and noun. Gender and number The PRESENT INDICATIVE of regular and irregular verbs Subject pronouns (morphology and use) demonstrative ADJECTIVES and PRONOUNS possesive ADJECTIVES Adjectives (gender and number) Adverbs of quantity + Adjective the difference between HAY/ESTÁ(N) the verb GUSTAR TENER QUE, NECESITAR + Infinitivo indefinite article indirect and direct OBJECT PRONOUNS reflexive verbs and position of pronouns adverbs of frequency and quantity TENER QUE + Infinitive; HAY QUE + Infinitive 3
SER + Adjective + Infinitive the PRESENT PERFECT participles (regular and irregular) ESTAR + participle INFINITIVE as Noun Adjectives and adverbs of QUANTITY Impersonal SE the difference between YA/TODAVIA NO IR A + infinitive; PRESENTE as Future Adjectives and adverbs of TIME Prepositions (distances and space references; movement) RELATIVE clauses (location) Comparatives Verb PARECER SER + adjective + Infinitive Prepositions Exclamative QUÉ! ESTAR + gerund Contrast TÚ/ USTED Command forms Position of pronouns with command forms. Uses Discourse knowledge porque y, no, ni, pero, pues sí pero también sequence markers: primero, después, luego, al final time markers: antes/después de; tarde/pronto Vocabulary knowledge names of Spanish-speaking countries names of Spanish letters numbers nationalities hobbies professions descriptive adjectives (physical, personality, clothing, places) family tourism and vacation transportation and travel the days of the week, the months, the seasons the city: parts, places and services consumer products, shopping, gifts currencies colors clothing party parts of the body physical activities professional profiles habilities personal and professional information 4
food and drink, containers cooking, recipes quantities, weights and measures time, parts of the day, dates ecology and climate society and history housing, parts of the house, furniture LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES deducting grammar rules making semantic maps using previous knowledge for listening or reading comprehension identifying cognates and false cognates guess the meaning of words from context using contextual clues for listening comprehension conversational strategies scan (go through a text to find a particular piece of information) answer the questions qué, quién, dónde, cuándo, cómo? recognize and identify the main ideas in paragraphs, charts, maps, and short articles 5